Feature

'It was the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis and my father tried to
explain what was going on. My mother thought I was too young and
fretted. We were having chicken, I recall, but the sky did not fall.

'Like many baby boomers, I’ve been fascinated by the Cold War ever
since, growing up on a diet of Mission Impossible, The Man from
U.N.C.L.E. and feeding my appetite on chunky airport novels and
blockbuster movies set in this era.

'As I worked on the manuscript, it seemed a good idea to
immerse myself in some classic 1970s Cold War movies. It was easy to
find recent offerings – Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, of course, and the
BBC film of Legacy, based on Alan Judd’s edgy hero, not to mention The
Americans.